By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com

LINDSBORG – By the time the Smoky Valley boys offense woke up in the fourth quarter Tuesday night, their rally fell short as the Vikings lost at home to Southeast of Saline, 64-51.

Southeast of Saline doubled up the Vikings, 12-6, in the first quarter before pulling away to a 12-point, 29-17, advantage heading into the halftime break.

The visitors continued to put points on the board in the third with 17 to take a commanding 20-point, 46-26, lead into the final quarter of play. In the fourth quarter the Vikings finally put up some impressive points, 25, on the board, but Southeast of Saline still scored 18 and Smoky Valley fell short of a win by 13 points.

There just seemed to be no stopping Southeast of Saline’s Eli Sawyer as the six-foot-five forward powered his way to 31 points, connecting on 14 of 22 shots.

As a team, the visitors shot 48% from the field while the Vikings suffered through a mostly cold night, hitting on just 28% of their shots, despite dominating the boards with 41 rebounds, 20 more than Southeast of Saline.

Vincent Pickering and Karson Pihl led the Vikings offense with 11 and 10 points each while Lukas Apel just missed double digits with nine.

It was a team effort on the boards as Haven Lysell-Stewart led Smoky Valley with eight rebounds while both Karson Pihl and Kade Blanchat each grabbed seven and Lukas Apel pulled down six.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR “AREA TEAM”?

Now 0-2 to start the season, the Vikings will head north to Concordia for a battle on Friday with the unbeaten Panthers.

Southeast of Saline at SMOKY VALLEY VIKINGS

SCORING:        1          2          3          4          FINAL

SE of Saline     12        17        17        18        64       

VIKINGS           6          11        9          25        51       

TEAM STATS:              SE of Saline     VIKINGS

Shooting                     22/45 (48%)    18/63 (28%)

3-Pointers                   4/11 (36%)      4/16 (25%)

Free Throws                16/30 (53%)    11/20 (55%)

Rebounds (Off/Def)    21 (5/16)         41 (21/20)

Assists                         1                      4

Turnovers                   13                    16

Steals                          12                    7

Blocked Shots             3                      3

Personal Fouls            18                    25

SMOKY VALLEY VIKINGS INDIVIDUAL SCORING & STAT LEADERS:

Scoring (51 Total Points): Vincent Pickering – 11; Karson Pihl – 10; Lukas Apel – 9; Kade Blanchat – 7; Gus Griffith – 5; Haven Lysell-Stewart – 4; Trayton Miller – 3; Justice Autry – 2.

Three-Pointers Made (4): Vincent Pickering, Trayton Miller, Kade Blanchat, Lukas Apel – 1.

Rebound Leaders: Haven Lysell-Stewart – 8; Karson Pihl, Kade Blanchat – 7; Lukas Apel – 6; Trayton Miller – 4.

Assist Leader: Justice Autry, Jerome Autry, Trayton Miller, Haven Lysell-Stewart – 1.

Leader in Steals: Karson Pihl, Lukas Apel – 2.

Leader in Blocked Shots: Trayton Miller, Vincent Pickering, Haven Lysell-Stewart – 1.